When my short story “The Light in the Heart: A Haunting” came out in Bourbon Penn this summer, actor and voiceover artist Kirk Lawrence-Howard reached out to ask my permission to record himself reading it. Kirk had previously read one of my poems on YouTube as part of his ongoing support of Ukraine. He voiced so many poems by Ukrainian writers over the years, helping to garner support for the Ukrainian people. I told him I would be honored.
I never got the chance to share that recording broadly, and then on September 3, 2024, Kirk’s husband Jamie posted that Kirk Lawrence-Howard passed away from complications of Covid that morning.
In the months since his death, I have listened to many of Kirk’s recordings. He had a gift for capturing the heart of powerful words, drawing from his more than 40 years of theatrical performance experience. Many of them are archived here on his YouTube channel, Bespoke Vocals: https://www.youtube.com/@bespokevocals
I wanted to post Kirk’s reading of my haunted house story on Halloween, because this is the day when many of us honor the ancestors, our Beloved Dead who have passed from this life into the Mystery that lies beyond. On this day, as costumed children go off to collect their treats, many of us light candles, review photographs, prepare recipes written in the handwriting of the dead, raise our glasses, tell stories or sit in reflective silence…and remember.
“The Light in the Heart” is a love story at its core, something that Kirk immediately understood and captured so beautifully. I share this recording to honor him in gratitude and remembrance. On this day when we reflect on love that can no longer be held by earthly bodies, we gather with those who remain, and we send that love out into the cracks and shadows of the Unknown.
Вічная Пам’ять. May their memory be eternal.